Interest on Late Payment of TDS

In case the assessee deposits the TDS Payment after the due date of payment of the tax deducted at source, he shall be liable to pay interest @1.5% for every month or every part of the month during which the amount is not deposited with the government.

Interest @ 1.5% is liable to be paid from the date on which the TDS amount was deducted and not from the date the TDS payment was due.

For example: TDS was deducted on 25th June and the due date for TDS Payment was 7th July. The assessee fails to deposit the TDS by 7th July. In such a case, the Interest would be calculated from 25th June and not from 7th July.

The period of 26th June to 30th June will be calculated as one month (being part of a month month i.e. 30 – 26 = 4 days) & from 1st July to 9th July will also be treated as one month. As such in this case, the interest payable is for two months. Total interest would be 3%. Sounds odd, but it is true – for a delay of 2 days, one has to pay interest for two months.

Note: In the above case, if tax was deducted on 30th June instead of 26th June, the number of days in June is calculated as 30 – 30 = 0 days. As such interest for one month will be charged i.e. only for July.

The period of 20th March to 31st March will be calculated as one month, 1st April to 30th April will be another month & from 1st May to 5th May will be treated as another one month. As such in this case, the interest payable is for three months. Total interest would be 4.5%. For a 5 day delay, the interest payable is for 3 months.

Logic behind this calculation is that, if dues are not paid on time, the interest for each month (or part thereof) is to be paid right from the date of deduction till date of deposit of the TDS amount. Each month is treated based on the Calendar Month or part thereof, instead of counting the number of days. However, if tax is deducted on the last day of the month, in that case, that month is not counted for calculation of interest.

Important: there is a difference between late deduction and late payment. Learn more